


perfectly normal

by andibeth82



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Incredibles (2004)
Genre: Clint Barton's Farm, Clint is absolutely Mr. Incredible, Clint's kids are the epitome of super kids, Crossover, Slice of Life, The family that is super together fights together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 06:29:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14994854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andibeth82/pseuds/andibeth82
Summary: “My daddy’s a superhero!” Lila Barton would proclaim loudly in the supermarket, at a restaurant, in the park. Three years old, bright-eyed and a winning smile of innocence, she would announce that sentence to anyone who walked in their direction while Laura would quickly step in and assure whoever was listening that her daughter had a funny way with words. Cooper tried to help steer the conversation from time to time, attempting to be a helpful big brother, but as a little boy he often found himself too amused by the situation to be of much assistance.Clint, for his part, loved it. Lying in bed after everyone else in the house had gone to sleep, he told Laura that of course he understood why they needed to be concerned about his daughters outspoken personality and what it could mean when she wasn’t so careful or when they weren’t around to do damage control. But Laura could easily see his chest puffing up in pride, and she knew that despite his serious reassurances, he was secretly ecstatic that his daughter thought of her otherwise civilian parents as the superheroes that they really were.[aka the Incredibles crossover that needed to be written]





	perfectly normal

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclaimer: I've had the headcanon of Clint and his family being the Incredibles for years, and I've been wanting to do this crossover for awhile. So here you go. 100% family friendly superhero times, with a bit of snark thrown in for good measure -- because what's a superhero family without snark?
> 
> This is set in the Incredibles universe but is really more a "slice of life" type of fic. While there are references to the first film, most of what's in this story takes its own path or uses the film as groundwork to build on certain moments. No spoilers at all for Incredibles 2, so if you haven't seen it yet, you don't have to worry.

Mr. Incredible (Clint) meets Eliastgirl (Laura) the way most superheroes would meet each other -- by arriving at the same incident at the same time, ready to save the same day.

Laura doesn’t pay attention to Clint at first -- his super strength, along with his admittedly attractive looks, are overshadowed by a boasting personality that immediately turns Laura off. She’s used to doing her own thing, anyway (she certainly didn’t cultivate a following as Elastigirl for nothing) and focuses on using her powers to reign in an offending robber who seems intent on unleashing some sort of toxic gas via a blimp that flies over the city, passing as an innocent promotional play for a new store.

Laura leaps from building to building, using her arms and legs to stretch her to insane heights. She manages to catch the blimp right as it passes over a tall skyscraper. As she grabs on and attempts to sneak her way inside, she notices that someone else is already there -- a tall, light-haired man with a deep voice. He’s already reading the riot act to a skinny boy whose hands are tied behind his back, while the controls that would unleash the dangerous gas have switched to a safe off position.

“ _You_?” she asks as she enters the cockpit area, because Laura knows another superhero when she sees one. And anyway, everyone knows Mr. Incredible.

“ _You_?” he asks as she enters the cockpit area, because Clint knows another superhero when he sees one. And anyway, everyone knows Elastigirl.

“You stole my criminal!” Laura demands, pointing towards the boy on the floor. Mr. incredible sighs.

“Calm down, Elastigirl. I was only doing my civic duty. There’s more to life than one superhero in Metroville --”

“My name is _not_ Elastigirl,” Laura says indignantly, raising herself to full height. “It’s Laura. And you stole my criminal! I had this guy from _weeks_ ago! He was on my radio!”

“Well, if we’re playing fair, my name isn’t Mr. Incredible, it’s Clint,” Clint answers with a flourish of his hands. “And this guy was on _my_ radio too. You were just too slow to get here.”

Laura clenches her jaw and tries to stop noticing the way his face really was the epitome of something very handsome. She shouldn’t be even falling for him in the first place. Laura hated partners, especially when they came in the form of people who threatened her own hard-earned success. It was unbecoming. It was unfair, really, but that's besides the point.

“Are you guys gonna...you know...make out or something?” the boy on the floor asks after a long silence that involves them both eyeing each other, each one refusing to give the upper hand. “I mean, I’ve seen this stuff in movies before. You get all googly-eyed, and then you yell at each other, and then…” He trails off as Clint turns to glare at him.

“Watch it, mister. Just because I didn’t turn you in yet doesn’t mean you’re not getting what you deserve.”

 

***

 

Clint does ask Laura out, after they’ve booked the would-be-city-destroyer.

“I suppose this fateful meeting means that we should at least get dinner,” says Clint.

Laura bites back a laugh. “Really? You’ve known me for all of, what, five minutes? And you’re asking me to dinner?”

“Call it a saving the world together act of goodwill,” Clint says jauntily. “And besides, I’ve known you for a lot longer than that, _Elastigirl_.” He punctuates the end of his sentence with a suggestive eyebrow waggle. It’s stupid and charming and goddammit, Laura’s totally going to fall for his pompous ass. The body was a given, and the attitude was worse.

She accepts his invitation to a semi-fancy pizza place in downtown Metroville. Both arrive in civilian clothes, Clint dressed down in jeans and a t-shirt that looks like it’s been better days (“my dog ate my only other clean one and everything else is in the wash,” he explains apologetically before Laura has a chance to comment) and Laura is wearing a simple dress, her long brown hair brushed over one shoulder. Clint orders wine and Laura has three full glasses before she actually asks him why he does the superhero thing.

“Because I like it,” Clint says, downing his second glass of wine. “It’s fulfilling. I mean, look at all the recognition we get. Plus, I get to help people. Why do _you_ do it?”

Laura tips her glass back. “Because I like it,” she repeats. “I never wanted to hide my powers. My mom always did -- she thought that it would be too dangerous for me to be out in the world. But I always felt like if I was sitting around doing nothing when I could be doing something…”

“You’d be wasting your potential,” Clint finishes. Laura nods.

“Well, that and I could miss out on meeting handsome competitive superheroes.”

She’ll blame the wine that asks for the second date -- he’ll blame the wine that asks if she wants to come back to his messy-but-decent bachelor pad. Both of them will wake up the next morning and throw on their clothes and awkwardly avoid each other’s eyes as they get dressed, and Clint will make coffee. After a little more than half an hour of tension and silence, he’ll hand her a cup of black brew.

“Well, hey,” he says, after clearing his throat. “Not to get even more weird, but not only was that a great night...that might’ve been the best sex I’ve had in years.”

Laura starts laughing, because Clint isn’t lying. It had been a good night. The wine had been good, the food had been great, the sex had been sensational, and the company had been even better.

“I’m not sure what my parents would do if I told them I was dating another superhero,” Laura admits as she drinks her coffee, casting a gaze around his messy apartment.

“I’m not sure what the world would say if they found out Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl were dating,” Clint counters.

Laura smiles and leans forward on the small kitchen island, stained with dirt and dried pasta sauce.

“Wanna find out?”

 

***

 

Their second date is a baseball game in Metroville, and although Laura swears she’s not a fan of sports unless she’s trying to save a stadium from imploding, Clint makes her a fan. He hollers and yells and gets so into the game that she ends up buying one of those dumb souvenir drink glasses that she knows she has no use for. When the kiss cam comes around, Clint makes sure they get shown on the screen, and Laura uses her superpowers to grab a ball that would otherwise be totally foul, which sets off a chain reaction of people asking for her autograph when they realize who she is. When they realize who Clint is, the whole thing becomes an even bigger fanfare, and Laura has to admit that she kind of likes this partner thing. It feels good to have someone to share these moments with; fame was fun but often lonely and as much as she loved the attention, being able to retreat to a quiet place and not have to turn herself “on” for the public was something she didn’t realize she needed -- something she could do with Clint, that he could also do with her.

Their third date is a fancy dinner on top of the tallest skyscraper, where Clint unearths a picnic blanket with nice take-out, a bottle of wine, and a few wrapped boxes. One box holds her favorite candy, another box holds a new pair of superhero goggles made in her favorite colors, and the third box holds an engagement ring with a shining, glittering rock. Laura gasps in surprise upon opening it and Clint gets down on one knee just as the sun starts to dip behind a cloud, casting a beautiful orange glaze over the city.

“Elastigirl,” Clint says dramatically, before pausing and letting his voice slip into something soft and genuine and only reserved for her. “Laura. Will you do me the honor of making me the happiest super in Metroville and marrying me?”

“Mr. Incredible,” Laura responds, trying to be tough through her tears, before letting her voice slip into something soft and genuine and only reserved for him. “Clint. Of course I will.”

 

***

 

The first time Laura uses the line “he never misses” to talk about her husband, she almost laughs. It’s not because it’s cliché, or because everyone would expect the wife of a superhero to say those words -- Laura’s always been aware of what kind of life they've chosen for themselves. To the world, Clint was perfect and handsome -- he never faltered and he always knew what to say. To Laura, however, Clint was the most normal human. He could do a press conference and then trip over his feet when he came home. He could drink five cups of coffee and spill the sixth on the floor and still manage to get the bills done, even if he did it half-naked due to clothes that were still in the wash. He was a different person with her than he was to the world, and Laura loved it, relished in it. To her, this dichotomy was a gift that she wanted to keep to herself, something she didn’t want anyone else to ever unwrap.

 

***

 

The wedding of Mr. Incredible (Clint) and Elastigirl (Laura) takes place on a balmy spring day by the water. There’s a small collection of family and friends present; Clint’s superhero friend Frozone (civilian moniker Nick Fury) is his best man and in attendance is Edna Mode, storied costume designer to the superhero stars. Laura’s mother cries, and even Edna proclaims how wonderful this day is -- a day to remember, when two superheroes stopped running around and just focused on making each other happy.

If fighting crime alone was a thrill, Laura soon finds out that doing it with someone by your side is even more thrilling. Her and Clint work well together, not just because they’re entirely in sync with each other’s thoughts and actions but because at the end of the day, they’re still there for each other and willing to listen.

“Can you believe that move I used to take down the Growlator?” Laura asks excitedly as she cooks dinner. Clint yells back from the shower, equally excited.

“I know! It was completely -- can I say it?”

“Yes,” Laura allows, even though she thinks it’s stupid. Clint gets a kick out of it, though, and she likes that it makes him happy.

“It was _incredible_! We were a team, Laura! The _best_ team!”

They eat their chicken and drink their beers while toasting to a city well-protected, and soon the world knows them not just as Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, but Mr. Incredible _and_ Elastigirl -- the greatest superhero team that ever lived. If you were in trouble and one of them showed up to save you, it usually meant that the other wasn’t far behind. And even if it _was_ only one of them, well, it was okay. You were still in good hands.

The best hands.

Incredible hands.

 

***

 

The day that the superhero regulation goes into effect is the day Laura comes home to find Clint sitting on the floor of their small apartment, staring morosely at his super suit which is hanging on the door in front of him. He’s got a beer in one hand but he’s not drinking it, and it’s sweating onto the hardwood floor.

“Hey,” Laura says quietly, hanging up her coat. She takes off her shoes and tries to channel her voice into something optimistic. “How was your day?”

“Great,” Clint answers sarcastically. “Super. One might even say --”

“Incredible?” Laura asks with a small smile.

Clint looks up dejectedly and Laura sighs. She sits down next to him and picks up his beer bottle. “It’s going to be hard on me, too,” she says after a moment. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if I can’t go out all the time. But we’ll make it work. We have each other, remember? That’s what matters.”

“I know,” Clint says moodily, even though it sounds like it’s killing him to agree with her. “But I’ve never been told I can’t do my job, Laura. And what if the world needs saving? Who’s going to do it? How can we just _sit_ here and let everything go to hell?”

Laura lets out a long breath. “It’s what the government thinks is best,” she says, despite the fact doesn’t really believe it.

“Yeah. They think it’s best we go underground.”

“So we go underground,” Laura replies. She tries to keep her voice cheery, but the words feel fake, like she’s just trying to put on a show in order to keep Clint from being too depressed. She puts the bottle back down and leans one hand against his cheek, scooting closer. “Clint, nothing will ever keep us down. We’ll still be together, and we’ll still find ways to save people. I promise.”

“You promise,” Clint repeats. Laura nods and puts her other hand on his cheek, cupping his face tightly before leaning over to kiss him.

“Yes. I _promise_.”

Years later, when he’s old enough to have an active mind, Cooper Barton will grow curious and ask his mom and dad how he got here. Did he fall from the sky, like other supers he knows? Did a stork deliver him? Was he willed and wished into being, like his favorite fairytale?

No, his parents will say. Cooper was born at a time when his parents were looking for a little bit of hope, and when they needed an answer and a reason to understand this new part of their lives, he was there.

 

***

 

It’s fifteen years after the superhero relocation program has gone into effect, and for the most part, Laura’s got everything under control.

She’s Laura Barton under her roof, to her three children, and to the parents at school. She’s Laura Barton to the contractors that come to her house and the grocery deliveries that come to her door. She’s Laura Barton to anyone that calls looking for a playdate or a snack for the PTA meeting.

The house that they’ve been relocated to is a farm in Waverly, Iowa, set on acres upon acres of vast land. It has a barn and a garden and crops and it’s far from anything that Laura was used to in Metroville, but she has a little bit of fun trying to make it work.

The first few years are hard, though. Clint doesn’t take to being forcibly retired that well, and Laura often finds him taking his anger out on trees and sometimes a stray bowl that she manages to stretch enough to catch. She tries not to feel upset when _he_ gets upset, because she gets it -- Clint had never known anything but a super life while Laura had, at some point, actually dreamed of settling down with kids. Those dreams had taken a backseat for so many years because once she started using her powers, she couldn’t imagine sitting home and being a boring housewife.

But now that she had been forced into it, now that she had some time to understand how it felt to hear her baby’s cries and see her daughter’s face when she discovered things like peas and carrots and ice cream, Laura can’t imagine running off and saving the world when the thing that might need saving could be one of her children running headfirst into a tree, or her newborn baby rolling off the bed in the middle of the night.

To Laura, parenting is just as hard, if not harder, than being a superhero. Sure, her powers afford her the opportunity to do things a little easier than other parents -- reading to Cooper is easy because she can give Lila a bath at the same time; she can cook dinner while writing her grocery list for the week and making sure Nate is occupied enough so that he doesn’t scream his head off. But as a superhero, Laura can learn how to bend in a way that will make her unable to be caught, and she can learn which moves work best under what circumstances. As a parent, no one is there to teach her what to do when her son yells at her because she won’t let him visit a friend. No one is there to teach her how it feels when her daughter cries and won’t stop. No one is there to teach her how to walk through awkward conversations about first loves and first injuries and first heartbreaks. She likes when she fails and when she succeeds, because it feels the same every time -- rewarding.

And, Laura admits to herself more often than not, she likes being a mom. She likes the satisfaction it affords her. She loves sitting down to dinner each night and talking about her day and having Clint make a joke about it. Her super suit hangs in the closet, unused and hidden, and at times she _does_ dream about having an incredible life again. Sometimes she even dreams about having it with her kids.

But when she gets into bed with Clint, she realizes that her incredible life is right within the walls of this house, at least for now, and that’s perfectly okay.

 

***

 

The first time Laura’s children revealed their powers, it was all in different ways.

Cooper gave his parents a few solid months of normalcy, despite Laura and Clint both knowing that he had been born with _something_ \-- and even though they watched closely as Cooper grew from infant to semi-human, there seemed to be no red flags that indicated they should be on guard. Once he started crawling, however, that was a different story. Laura placed him on the ground in the living room, Clint holding a video camera while encouraging his son happily. Cooper, delighted by his father’s funny faces, placed his hands on the floor and started to move. In an instant, he was crawling too fast, then zooming, then heading straight for the TV stand without any awareness that he was going to bash headfirst into a hard piece of furniture. Laura’s life had flashed before her eyes in the instant before her hands had stretched, her powers allowing her to grab Cooper securely before he could make an impact. Clint and Laura had been holding off on baby proofing the house since they were lazy, but that night, they spent hours covering every single sharp edge in foam or rubber. 

They were prepared for Lila, or so they thought. After Cooper, they kept their eye on their newborn daughter, baby-proofed the house well before she could walk and scrutinized every cry and every smile and every hand clap. Laura’s second heart attack came when she was in the middle of changing her daughter’s diaper, having turned around to grab another baby wipe from the dresser. When she turned back, Lila was gone, nowhere to be found -- or at least, her body was nowhere to be found. There was only a floating diaper and two tiny pairs of socks. Before Laura could scream, Lila re-appeared suddenly, giggling and seemingly confused as to why her mom looked horrified. Clint had walked into the room just in time to see Lila put her hands out and create a tiny violet bubble that enveloped her like a force field.

As for Nathaniel, well. So far, he had been shockingly normal. After two powered children had revealed their gifts to their parents in different albeit surprising circumstances, Clint and Laura had tried to roll with the punches. After all, years of parenting meant they certainly weren’t new at this -- the parenting part _or_ the power revealing part. But at almost one year old, Nathaniel had done absolutely nothing to indicate he shared any of the family’s remarkable traits. Clint moped about it but Laura, for her part, felt relieved – at least one child wasn’t going to send her into an early grave.

 

***

 

“My daddy’s a superhero!” Lila Barton would proclaim loudly in the supermarket, at a restaurant, in the park. Three years old, bright-eyed and a winning smile of innocence, she would announce that sentence to anyone who walked in their direction while Laura would quickly step in and assure whoever was listening that her daughter had a funny way with words and make no mistake, they really _were_ the epitome of amazing parents. Cooper tried to help steer the conversation from time to time, attempting to be a helpful big brother, but as a little boy he often found himself too amused by the situation to be of much assistance.

Clint, for his part, loved it. Lying in bed after everyone else in the house had gone to sleep, he told Laura that of course he understood why they needed to be concerned about his daughters outspoken personality and what it could mean when she wasn’t so careful or when they weren’t around to do damage control. But Laura could easily see his chest puffing up in pride, and she knew that despite his serious reassurances, he was secretly ecstatic that his daughter thought of her otherwise civilian parents as the superheroes that they really were.

 

***

 

Laura wakes up at five in the morning, roused by Nathaniel’s loud cries. After yawning sleepily, she uses her elastic arms to stretch to the room across the hall, grabbing the baby and bringing him back to their bedroom.

She doesn’t realize until she places the baby in her lap that Clint’s been sitting up in bed, fully awake and watching videos on his phone. Laura smiles when she recognizes the suit and hears the yells on the video.

“Reliving the glory days, huh?”

Clint turns with a wistful glance, looking for all the world like a kid with his hand caught in the candy jar. “Sorry. I couldn’t sleep...I couldn’t help it.”

“You never can,” Laura says, but her voice isn’t angry as much as it’s understanding. She pokes his knees, forcing him to turn over, and bounces Nathaniel on her legs. She’s cautious, because she still doesn’t trust that he won’t burst out with some insane powers, but all the baby does is giggle and the only thing he signals to Laura is that he’s clearly not sleepy.

“Don’t you miss it?” Clint asks, turning his head. “The excitement, the thrills...the amazingness of it all?”

Laura bites down on her lower lip. “I do,” she admits. “And I miss doing it with you. But this...them…” She looks down at Nathaniel. “This is our life now, Clint. I know it’s a life that you’re still not used to. But it’s a life that I love, and a life that I’m proud of. You should be, too.”

“I am -- you _know_ I am,” Clint says. “Laura, god, I’m more proud of our kids than anything. But I can’t help it. It’s been so long.”

Laura watches as his eyes move back to the video, which he hasn’t bothered to pause during the course of their conversation. “You know, you were pretty hot,” she muses, unable to stop the shiver that runs through her bones as effortlessly Clint lifts a car over his head. “I’m not mad I fell for you.”

“Even though I stole your criminal?”

Laura laughs. “Well, okay. Maybe I’m a little bit mad.” She leans over and brushes hair back from his forehead. “But at least you paid for my dinner to make it up to me.”

 

***

 

Cooper is aware of what his parents are and what he is -- Laura and Clint don’t hide their powers from him when they’re in the house, and besides, healthy parenting meant that in order for Cooper to realize why he couldn’t do things like run fast in front of people and show off his “skills,” he had to understand why he was special and what that meant.

Clint sits him down one day after a walk and tries to explain that he’s different, but the lecture doesn’t quite jibe with his son until Laura joins the conversation and shows off her powers.

“Woah,” Cooper says in awe, even though he’s been watching his mom’s powers all his life. He watches Laura’s arm stretch from where they’re sitting on the porch all the way to the tree in the back of the house, where she grabs an apple off one of the branches. “I thought _all_ moms did that.”

“Not all,” Laura says with a bit of pride, bringing her arm back and tossing Clint the apple. “But some. There are people in the world like us, all over, even if you don’t know it. We’re supers, and you were born with special powers, Coop. That’s why you can run really fast. It’s also why it’s sometimes dangerous.”

“Why?” Cooper asks innocently. “Because I’ll hurt myself?”

“Because right now, people don’t really like superheroes,” Clint explains gently, putting an arm around him. “That’s why mom and I don’t use our powers out of the house. We don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“And people can’t know about the fact that your parents are different,” Laura adds. “It’s just the way things are with the world. I know that it’s a lot to take in, but you _have_ to listen to mommy and daddy, okay? You absolutely _cannot_ use your powers unless you’re at home. And it can’t be home with a friend from school around. It can only be with family.”

So Cooper knows his parents are supers, and that he has powers. But he doesn’t know the real details. He doesn’t know about their past, about Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, about the numerous villians that still roam the city nefariously, the ones that Clint and Laura hear about under the radar but know they can’t do anything about. Lila gets the same standard talk -- her parents sit her down and explain her powers to her when she’s old enough to understand that she has them but not old enough to know what they mean.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Laura says soothingly when Lila starts crying after her body disappears again. “There’s nothing wrong with you. Look.” And Laura will demonstrate her powers that Lila’s seen all her life but never really understood, while Clint will make a display of his own until Lila stops crying, wiping her face with wet hands.

“So…” Lila’s voice is tiny and timid as the rest of her body reappears. “I’m not a scary witch?”

“Oh, baby.” Laura hugs and kisses her daughter. “You’re _not_ a witch, I promise. You’re just special. And that’s why you have to keep your powers to yourself. We’ll help you learn how to control them -- but you have to only use them in the house, okay? Like me and your dad and your brother. Absolutely no exceptions.”

One day, Laura’s cooking dinner when Cooper and Lila run into the kitchen, almost tripping over themselves in a fight to get to Laura first with both their arms and voices.

“Mommy! Mommy _look_!”

Laura turns absently in the midst of stirring sauce, not expecting anything out of the ordinary -- and certainly not expecting to see Cooper brandishing an old videotape labeled MR. INCREDIBLE AND ELASTIGIRL’S GREATEST HITS.

“Where did you find that?” Laura asks immediately, dropping the spoon in the pan as her body stretches forward to grasp the tape. Cooper tugs it closer to his chest as Lila steps forward.

“Uncle Fury showed it to us!”

Before Laura can even start to think about how much she’s going to kill Clint’s best friend, Cooper starts yelling again.

“I wanna do it! I wanna do it like you guys!”

“Me too!” Lila chimes in, egged on by her brother. “I wanna be a super team!”

Laura shakes her head, trying to combat every emotion coursing through her. “I’m sorry,” she says firmly, unfazed by the tiny whining voices that would normally push her buttons. “You can’t do that. It’s too dangerous.”

“But _you_ did it!” Cooper looks positively put out. “You took bad guys down and everything! We’re just as good as you guys! I have powers! I can help!”

“Cooper,” Laura says, struggling to keep her voice from ascending into a rude tone. “And Lila. The answer is no. I’m sorry, but you _can’t_ do this kind of stuff and you certainly can’t take your powers out to the world. We talked about this, remember?”

“This is terrible!” Cooper yells. “I can’t do anything! I can’t try out for track because of these stupid powers. I can’t do anything because of these stupid powers! Mom won’t even let me help because of these stupid powers!”

He throws the tape on the ground and stomps up the stairs. Laura’s almost surprised he doesn’t run up the stairs, but realizes he’s probably trying to make a defiant show of not using his powers to spite her. Lila simply shakes with rage, and when Laura tries to touch her, she emanates a large purple bubble to protect herself. Laura sighs as her daughter turns her back, the picture of pre-adolescence.

She decides to let both of her children stew for awhile since she apparently has bigger fish to fry. As Lila marches off in her bubble, Laura does her own march towards the phone, picking it up and immediately dialing, not waiting for a hello before she launches into her tirade.

“You showed him _what_?”

“Look, I was bored, they were cranky, I was just trying to help!” Fury protests. “I figured you guys had already told them about all this stuff!”

“We told them about their powers and how _we_ had powers, but we didn’t show them what we used to _do_ ,” Laura snaps. “And what the hell, Nick? It didn’t occur to you to check with the _actual_ parents of the household before you outed us like this?”

“What are you talking about?” Now Fury sounds confused. “I asked Clint, and Clint said it was fine!”

“Oh, he _did_ , did he?”

When Clint gets home from grocery shopping later that night, Laura lays it on him -- but makes sure that they’re outside the house, in the barn, and far away from the source of the problem.

“Oh, come on,” Clint says, looking embarrassed but also annoyed. “What, we were going to keep this from them forever?”

“Yes,” Laura says, shaking out her hair which for years has chopped from a long mane to chin-length. “We were. You know how important it is that we keep a low profile! You of all people know how dangerous it could be if they knew how their powers could be used!”

“I do know, but I don’t think it’s right to keep this stuff from them,” Clint argues, throwing up his hands. “Laura, I love you, but we need to be practical. They’re going to figure it out anyway.”

“I _am_ being practical!” Laura snaps. “More practical than you, at least. Just because you’re having a hard time not being a superhero doesn’t mean you get to force our children into it, when it’s still not even safe for them to do so!”

“Oh, sure, blame the big guy,” Clint responds sarcastically. “Tell me how much time you spend parenting, and then ask me how I’m supposed to do nothing except sit at a desk all day in this boring job!”

“Then _you_ try parenting for awhile,” Laura counters, fed up with Clint’s arguments. “ _You_ pick them up from school and _you_ help them with homework! _You_ do the dishes and you clean the house, and tell me if you find any of that more invigorating than flying around and detaining bad guys! Because this is a good life, Clint! And you should enjoy it rather than try to ruin it!”

She stretches her arm, grabbing for the barn door, and flings herself out into the otherwise quiet night. Laura walks quickly along the grass and is almost to the house when she hears footsteps behind her.

“Wait. Laura.”

Laura turns and sees Clint following her, slowly but steadily. He holds out his hand. “I’m sorry.”

Laura wants to be angry, but the thing is, she loves him too much to keep any kind of grudge. She knows exactly the kind of person Clint is -- annoying, brash, impulsive, hot-headed -- but underneath all of that was warmth, humor, loyalty, and kindness -- the things that made him the person she loved.

“I’m sorry,” he repeats as he brings her in for a tight hug. Laura sighs in his arms.

“I know you miss being super,” she says quietly. “I get it. I do. But this isn’t the way to get ourselves back in the game. We’ve always been a team, right?”

Clint nods. “Yeah,” he agrees. “We have.”

“So if this is something that’s really bothering you, and obviously it is, let’s figure it out as a team. As a family,” she says pointedly, putting her hand on her stomach as she nods towards the house.

Clint smiles and puts his hand over hers. “Little guy’s already getting an earful, and he’s not even born yet.”

“Maybe that’ll be one of his powers when he comes out of the womb,” Laura suggests, trying to steer the mood into a happier direction. “Supersonic hearing.”

“Maybe,” Clint agrees. “This kid could be the answer to everything.”

“Or he could end up with nothing,” Laura reminds him. She stretches up to kiss him, long and hard. “Come on. It’s late, and we have some alone time to catch up on.”

 

***

 

Being a closeted superhero and having a superhero family was stressful. Sometimes, though, it could be fun.

The holidays make up some of Laura’s favorite memories. Clint goes into the woods at the back of the house and pulls up a tree from its roots, sawing off the end of its trunk until it’s small enough to fit in the living room. Laura uses her elastic limbs to put the angel on the very top of the tree, while Cooper runs around the house gathering ornaments and lights at an insane speed. While Laura strings the lights across the porch with ease, Cooper, Lila, Clint, and Nathaniel decorate the tree together. Every so often, Lila disappears and reappears in front of Nate in order to keep him amused. Laura puts on Christmas music and makes cookies, the smell wafting through the house until all of her children are screaming and clamoring for chocolate, except for Nate who bounces on his diaper and laughs, slapping his hands together.

“Wish the world could see us now?” Clint asks when the kids have settled down, passed out on the couch with their heads against the thick armrest.

Laura smiles down at her children. “Only so they could see how good we are as a family.”

 

***

 

Laura’s a lot of things -- a superhero, a mother -- but the one thing she _isn’t_ is dumb. Clint’s been in a good mood for weeks, more amiable and helpful than he’s ever been, and while things between them (including sex) have been great, Laura can’t help but wonder if there’s something contributing to his turnaround of a mood. So when she visits Edna Mode and is told that her husband has been flying around the city taking cryptic underground superhero jobs, she’s honestly not surprised. She _is_ annoyed, however, because it’s what she expected and also because there was a chance that Clint could have been seriously hurt and no one would have known.

“I’m sorry,” says Edna, not sounding sorry at all. “I assumed you knew. He is your husband, you know.”

“I know. And never assume with Clint,” Laura replies through gritted teeth. “But thank you for telling me.”

When Laura returns home, Clint is nowhere to be found. He’s left a message on the answering machine saying he had to pick up some “extra shifts” at work and Laura’s eyes narrow at the words. She goes about the rest of her day and puts on a smile when her kids come home from school, helps Cooper with math and makes sure Lila’s practicing her french horn okay (sometimes she blows too hard and it causes her to become invisible or create a force field by accident.) She bathes and feeds Nathaniel, and by the time all of her kids have been put to bed, she’s ready and waiting and thinking about all the ways she’s going to kill Clint when he walks through the door.

Which he does, at precisely three in the morning. And from the look on his face, he clearly doesn’t except to see his wife sitting up expectantly with a hard glare and a cup of coffee.

“Man, you’re screwed,” Fury says when he walks in behind Clint and freezes upon the sight at Laura. “That look means you’re screwed. Even I feel cold, and she’s not even my wife.”

“Cold as ice, boss?” Clint asks, but neither Fury or Laura smile.

“Barton, I told you not to make that joke. Ever.”

“Yes, sir,” Clint says with a straight face before Fury lets himself out with a soft slam of the door. The moment they’re alone, Laura clears her throat.

“Do you want to start, or should I?”

“I’m sorry,” Clint says. “I didn’t mean to be out so late, but Fury and I went for drinks after work, and --”

“I went to Edna, and I know you went for drinks after work,” Laura says, using her fingers to make air quotes around the words ‘drinks after work’. “How long has this been going on, Clint?”

Clint sighs and lowers himself to the couch, rubbing a hand over his lower jaw. “A couple of months,” he admits slowly. “Me and Frozone -- we’ve been going out and doing some recon. Some small jobs -- Laura, come on, please don’t look at me like that. I told you --”

“And I told _you_ , we’re a family!” Laura says, her voice rising just enough to make a point without waking anyone else in the house. “We make these decisions together! What if you had been killed or hurt and I had no idea where you were? Clint, you’re not just responsible for yourself anymore and you haven’t been for years! Why can’t you get that through your head?”

“Because I hate being retired like this!” Clint snaps loudly. “I hate not being out there!”

“I know,” Laura says, and it feels like they’ve been having the same argument three different ways over and over again for fifteen years, each one ending in a dead end. “I know, Clint.”

“You _don’t_ know,” Clint says, sounding put out. “Laura, my entire life has been about being a superhero. Until I met you, I didn’t have anyone else who cared about me. I didn’t have anything else in my life. All I did was save people, because I got lucky with my powers and I was strong enough to be helpful. And now I can’t even do that. You get to stay home all day and be a mom...you’re an amazing mom and the kids love you. Me, I…” Clint shrugs, looking dejected. “I go to a crappy desk job and come home and everything’s taken care of already. I do my dad thing of reading and helping with chores but you’re the real superhero here, Laura. And I just needed something for me. Something that reminded me of who I really am.”

Laura sits down next to him and takes his hand. “You know who you are?” she asks quietly. “You’re Clint Barton. You’re my husband. You’re Lila and Cooper and Nathaniel’s father. You are so many important things to so many important people in this house. You have so much to offer the world, Clint, and it has nothing to do with you being incredible. You’re incredible when you’re not booking any criminals or saving the world.”

Clint tries to smile as Laura gives him a small grin. “I wish I could look at myself and see what you see.”

“Well, then maybe you should talk to me more,” Laura says in a no-nonsense voice. “Look, Clint, I’m serious. I knew what you were doing long before I went to Edna. And I just wish you would’ve told me. You always think that you have to solve all of these problems alone. But you don’t. I’m right here.”

“And look at all you do,” Clint points out, gesturing to the house. “You don’t even need my help to run this place.”

“Really?” Laura raises an eyebrow. “You don’t see the breakdowns that happen when Cooper can’t use his powers for something, or when Lila yells at me and calls me a bad mom because I won’t let her visit a friend. I am _not_ a super mother, Clint, as much as I love being at home. I do it well because I know you’re here with me, and because I know you love me, and because I know we’re making this life together. It may look like I’m doing it alone, but I’m not. And at the end of the day, that’s what I know and what keeps me going.”

“You need me?” Clint asks in a small voice.

Laura leans into him. “I do,” she says, pressing a kiss to his mouth. “I will always need you, Mr. Incredible.”

 

***

 

When Laura wakes up the next morning after their late-night argument, she almost forgets its Saturday. She loses track of the days more often than not with all the running around she does, but Cooper’s screams and Lila’s yells as they fight over the remote control assure her that, yes, it’s Saturday and yes, she has to deal with her children. Yawning, Laura stretches her arm out of the room by opening the door and snaking her hand down the stairs, fishing around until she successfully grabs the remote from someone’s hand.

“Hey!”

“Mom!”

“Mom, that’s not fair! _Mommy_!”

Laura smiles as she confiscates the remote in bed, relishing in the indignant cries of her kids. Nathaniel is already up, she knows, so she’s not entirely worried about waking him. She hears Clint trying to placate the yelling and grins to herself, taking a little more time to snuggle under the covers as rain pounds down on the roof of the farmhouse.

By the time Laura gets downstairs, dressed and ready to face the day, Clint’s in the middle of making a tall stack of pancakes. Cooper and Lila are sitting sullenly at the table, staring moodily at each other, and Nathaniel is sitting in his highchair holding a sippy cup that he’s happily slurping from.

“Good morning sunshines,” Laura says as she passes each child, kissing them on the head. Lila rolls her eyes and Cooper flinches and Nathaniel giggles.

“We just wanted to watch a _show_.”

“And maybe if your arguing hadn’t woken me up, you could’ve watched it,” Laura responds, sitting down at the table as Clint dances over with a flourish.

“Saturday pancakes for all!” he announces as he drops a plate in front of her. “Syrup optional, chewing with your mouth open _not_ optional unless you’re a baby who doesn’t know how to eat yet!”

“ _Ew_ ,” Lila says loudly, spearing a pancake with her fork. She manages to get one before Cooper takes six in quick succession, eating quickly while Lila makes a disgusted face. Laura hides a smile, but Clint isn’t quite as successful.

“Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to get the kids into it,” Laura suggests carefully as they’re cleaning up from breakfast. Clint stops washing dishes, his hand freezing in mid-air and the soapy sponge dripping onto the floor.

“Are you serious?”

“I don’t know,” Laura admits, staring off into the living room where Lila and Cooper are now playing an incredibly competitive game of pattycake -- Lila invoking invisibility at inopportune times while Cooper moves his hands too fast. “I’m just thinking...if you really are going to keep going out, maybe this is a way we don’t do it alone. Maybe I go sometimes, or maybe we start Cooper small -- maybe this is how we ease them into it.”

For a long time, Clint says nothing. Finally, he turns around, returning the sponge to the sink and wiping his hands on a dishtowel.

“You know superheroes are still illegal.”

“I know,” Laura says, grabbing a paper towel and extending an arm to wipe up the pile of water on the floor. “I know we’re still Clint and Laura Barton from Waverly, Iowa. But...”

“But?”

Laura can practically hear the excitement ramping up in his voice, and sighs. “But, maybe I could be convinced that we could be something more.”

Clint smiles, his grin growing wider and wider until it’s practically breaking his face. “Laura -- Laura, this is -- oh god, this is amazing! Honey, this is amazing! We’re going to be a superfamily!”

“Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Laura placates as Clint runs over, picking her up and twirling her around triumphantly. “We need to have a talk -- a real, serious long talk, as a family. We need suits for the kids --”

“Edna can make them suits! Edna can make any suit!” Clint interjects excitedly.

“We also need a plan,” Laura adds as Clint continues to twirl her. She tries to keep her own smile off her face but she can’t stop herself from feeling excited, buoyed by Clint’s happiness. “This is going to be a trial run, Clint. A _slow_ trial run. Okay?”

Clint puts her down on the floor and kisses her, still smiling. “Yes, ma’am.”

 

***

 

Christmas brings all the usual holiday traditions -- tree decorating and cookies and songs -- and two shiny packages under the tree that Laura and Clint watch their children open slowly, their trepidation falling away when they realize what they’re holding in their hands.

“Mom, is this what I think it means?”

“Mom, is this for real?? _Really_??”

Laura laughs as Cooper and Lila launch themselves into her and Clint’s arms, shrieking loudly. Lila is so excited she disappears and reappears, and Cooper starts zooming around the house, knocking chairs and pieces of furniture around. “We still need to work out a few things,” she cautions. “But I think we can start sharing parts of our lives with you.”

“We’re gonna be superheeeeeroes!” Cooper yells, picking up Nathaniel and hugging him tightly. The baby, who has been stuffing wrapping paper into his diaper, gives his brother a curious look.

“A whole family of superheroes!” Lila yells, grabbing her suit and running upstairs to try it on.

Christmas also brings an increase in crime, because it seems to Laura that it doesn’t matter how many years pass -- there will always be an influx of lawbreaking around the winter, when money was flowing in stores and people were running around the city haphazardly, not looking at their wallets.

They start out small, trying to stay incognito, Lila with Clint and Cooper with Laura. They leave Nathaniel with Fury for the night, and Laura teaches Cooper how to spot a criminal and corner him. Clint teaches Lila how to track a robber and how to subdue him non-lethally. Thanks to Edna, Lila’s super suit allows everything she’s wearing to become invisible, which makes it easier for Clint to teach her since Lila can work alongside him without anyone knowing.

It doesn’t end smoothly, by any means -- Laura and Clint have to step in and clean up a mess or two gone slightly wrong -- but at the end of the day, when the family is finally at home and Cooper and Lila are in their rooms safe and sound, chattering loudly about the day’s events, Laura realizes she feels happier than she’s felt in years. She falls into bed beside Clint, flopping down on the mattress and staring at him with a tired, delirious grin.

“Good job today, Mr. Incredible.”

Clint’s smile is equally tired and delirious. “You weren’t so bad yourself, Elastigirl. And the kids were pretty good, too.”

“The kids were great,” Laura admits, because she can’t deny what’s true. They absolutely needed more practice, but they were naturals when it came to being out in the field.

“Well, almost great,” Clint amends. Laura turns her head to look up at him, and Clint grimaces. “Lila couldn’t get some of her directions right while she was invisible. She got tangled coming out of invisibility and blew our cover.”

Laura can’t help but laugh. “Well, clearly, we have a long way to go. But we’re a family.”

“Yeah,” Clint says, putting his arm around Laura as they snuggle closer together. “We’re a family.”

(Later that night, while they’re asleep, Nathaniel shoots lasers out of his eyes and burns a hole in his pillow.

His parents find out in the morning. They both proclaim, at the same time, that he is incredible.)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to @spectralarchers for providing me with the "cold as ice?" line. Credit where credit is due!
> 
> Find me on tumblr @isjustprogress for fic and more!


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